Monday, November 10, 2008

Birthday Crown

Bowie's birthday party was this Saturday and true to form, I was pulling out supplies to make this about two hours before the party started. Luckily, it was a quick craft. I'd been thinking about making him a birthday crown for about a week, but was originally thinking about felted wool. When I pulled out my stash o' fabric I found that I didn't have a big enough piece of felt and I didn't feel like taking the time to piece something together. I was about to give up entirely, when I remembered the remnant of chalk board vinyl I picked up from
Fleur Fabrics, an awesome local sewing lounge. If you live in the RVA, I strongly suggest heading down there for a look-see. They've got great vintage remnants, buttons, ribbons, patterns as well as new fabrics, eco-friendly stuff and Amy Butler (if you go in for that). Continued digging in the stash turned up some graphic black and white print fabric for the lining. I used a heavy weight fusible interfacing on the lining fabric and since I used interfacing I decided to just topstitch.

To sidetrack just a little, I wasn't entirely sold on the chalkboard vinyl, so I only got a remnant when I saw it at the store. I initially thought the chalk wouldn't write well or it would get cloudy after repeated use, but I'm glad to report I was dead wrong. The stuff works great and is very easy to sew.

I made a quick pattern on a piece of 8x11 paper turned sideways, which gave me an overall length of 22 inches since I only topstitched. The highest point in the middle is 5 inches and the two smaller points on each side are 4 inches, the band in the back is 2.5 inches. I just plotted the tops and bottoms of the peaks and free-handed the curves. I used velcro on the back so it is adjustable from about 20-22 inches.

Obviously the best part about this is the ability to write, then erase, anything you want on the crown. I made it for his birthday party, and just wrote his name on it, but he can use it for all kinds of pretend games and write on it whatever he wants. I love the idea of one item with multiple uses, especially for kids, it really frees the imagination.



4 comments:

  1. Very cool Beth.

    I to like that it can be many different things for any situation that requires a crown.

    Nice craftsmanship as well.

    Your Bro.

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  2. So many situations require a crown these days.....He's been wearing it around the house saying "argh matey" for the past few days.

    I'm thinking about other applications for the chalkboard vinyl aside for the obvious chalkboard.

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  3. you should make a dress out of it...seriously... jeff, why do you have a blog with no posts?
    -mandy

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  4. I did think about chalk board garments, but only briefly. Now I'm thinking more about chalkboard patches on garments. Maybe a chalkboard apron could work......

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